


Books & Coffee & A Rivalry To Last Forever

by ShellyNelsonLahey



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Brief Choni, F/M, Jeronica, Swosie - Freeform, Vughead, brief Kangs, jeronicasecretsanta20, mentioned barchie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:14:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28342239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShellyNelsonLahey/pseuds/ShellyNelsonLahey
Summary: It’s winter break and Riverdale's college english teacher has given all of her classes a challenge: whoever reads the most books on the list the class is given will be able to skip a certain amount of big tests in her class (like the first 2 books, one test, 5 books, two tests, etc.) and of course being the avid readers they are, Veronica Lodge and Jughead Jones are up for the challenge. First person to read all of the books gets an automatic A on all of the tests, which only makes the rivalry better. Although, it didn’t completely go as planned when Veronica and Jughead began to grow close over the course of winter break...
Relationships: Jughead Jones & Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones/Veronica Lodge, jughead jones x veronica lodge
Comments: 24
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [madnessandscars](https://archiveofourown.org/users/madnessandscars/gifts).



> Hi! This is my secret santa fic for veronica-jones on Tumblr. I really hope you like it!!

An English teacher at Riverdale College, Mrs. Morgan, cleared her throat. “If you haven’t checked the website in the last few hours, there is a new link added called _‘the winter reading challenge’_ and while you will get all of the information on there, I will be explaining it in the last five official minutes of class. If you would rather go through it yourself, or don’t even want to participate in the challenge, you may leave early.”

 _A challenge?_ Veronica Lodge perked up in her seat at the mention, a curious smirk stretching upon her sangria lips. The young socialite was always up for a challenge, and this, whether it had benefits or not, was no different. Most of the class, surprisingly, scooped their books and laptops and spiral notebooks into their backpacks and left, leaving Veronica sitting alongside five other classmates who would rather hear about the challenge from the teacher than the link on the class’s website. Maybelle “Belle” Peters, Joshua Matthews, Diego Castañeda, Alex Chamberlynn, and an arrogant shithead who thought the world revolved around him, Forsythe Pendleton “Jughead” Jones the Third.

She met the dark eyes of the boy she viewed as her enemy solely because she knew of his potential and how his love for reading and writing rivaled her. To stay at the top of the class, he was the one person she butted heads with and it made her blood rise, and while she would never admit this aloud, she loved that he kept her on her toes, reminded her that she had to go above and beyond to stay the best of the best.

Jughead’s lips lifted in a cocky smirk, thin eyebrows raising in his usual challenging invite. He was trying to make her squirm, but she knew better than to let him get through to her. She knew she was superior to him in everything and everything, and therefore had no reason to squirm. It should be him who’s scared.

Mrs. Morgan clapped, as if gathering the rest of the room, although there wasn’t really any point to it considering no one was talking and all of them were paying attention to her. “Now that everyone who doesn’t want to participate has left, I have a fun, optional challenge for you all. I have created a list of fifteen books for you to read on your winter break. Based on the scale to the side of the paper, a certain amount of books read will earn you a point. Those points can be used to skip a test of your choosing. The first person to finish all of the books, or whoever comes back with the most books read over break, will not have to take any test in this class for the rest of the semester.”

A collective of gasps escaped past the students’ lips. The benefits of this challenge was a dream come true. And for Veronica, as someone who loved reading and could finish a book in an entire day if she wanted to, this would be as easy as pie. Veronica tried not to glance over at Jughead, who she could feel watching her in the corner of her eyes. He was her biggest threat to not having to take any tests in Mrs. Morgan’s class.

“Now, on the website there is a tab for this challenge. After you finish a book you will have to take an extensive test and essay so I can make sure you that actually read the book and didn’t just look it up,” Mrs. Morgan explained, “but, please, it is winter break and I want you to go have fun, be with your family and friends. This is just a challenge and I don’t want you to stress over it. We have six weeks! Plenty of enough time to enjoy your life, and read some amazing books.” With a quick glance to the clock, it was the end of class. “Happy holidays! See you all in six weeks.”

The six left in class began to pack up. Veronica was obviously going to check out the list on the website, but since it was her last class of the day she decided to grab a coffee first, then head back to her apartment to figure out a game plan and get a leg up on Jughead. She didn’t even have to glance at his coy smirk to know his brain was already brewing something up.

Waving goodbye to her teacher with a polite smile, Veronica shouldered her bag and headed off towards the student parking. Sure, there was a café in the student center where all of the restaurants were, but her favorite one was a mile or two away from campus and she liked not only the peaceful atmosphere and friendly staff, but their warm chocolate chip cookies baked fresh each hour. If she had to give a limb to acquire a life’s supply of the delectable dessert, she would in a heartbeat.

Within ten minutes, Veronica had hopped into her black Model X Tesla, a gift she had gotten from her father for graduation. It was expensive but he wanted her to be safe, and if he had to spend a bit more money than he was comfortable, he would. She parked in front of the café and turned the car off with an relieved sigh. It was finally winter break, and she could relax. No more tests or homework or heavy books. Just her, her friends and family, and the books in the challenge. Although, her parents were out of town for the holidays so she’d simply have to facetime or something to make up for it.

Stepping out of her Tesla, the college student shivered and wrapped her purple faux fur lapel coat tighter around her body. She was haste to rush inside, audibly sighing as the warmth of the heater made up for the icy breath of winter that had quickly clung to the fabric of her outfit. Considering it was winter, she wanted to be a little festive and ordered a white chocolate hot cocoa with a peppermint stick and a warm cinnamon bun—she would have asked for cookies but the cinnamon bun was a limited seasonal dessert.

Until it was ready, Veronica found a sweet little spot away from the windows where the cold air from the outside lingered and cosied up, setting her laptop on the table and her bag to the right of her foot, away from the door. Protecting her belongings had been ingrained in her since childhood thanks to her mother, who once had her project stolen in one fell swoop as someone had snatched her bag from the back of the chair where it had been laid. Ever since then, Veronica keeps it to the side where she can keep an eye on it, and once she settles down with her coffee and cinnamon bun, she’ll place her foot inside the strap so if anyone did happen to try and take her backpack, they’d have to practically break her leg to get it free first.

Two minutes passed and she had just gotten to Mrs. Morgan’s English website when her order was ready. The walk from her table to the counter was five feet, so she wasn’t worried about her things, no one else was currently in the café, anyways. She thanked them, tipped, and sat back down in her seat, ready to buckle down for a little while to get this challenge sorted out so she could stay ahead of Jughead. Out of everyone in her class, he was the one person she was aware of that rivaled her drive, and she’d be damned if she let him get the best of her.

The website had a long list of books, fifteen to be exact. Their professor probably wasn’t expecting anyone to actually read every single one of them, but she didn’t know how Veronica Lodge worked. If she read all fifteen books then she was almost guaranteed to win.

The first thing she did was open up her notes app, creating an empty list of fifteen slots. Then, she opened up Google and looked up each of the books and wrote down which book had the least amount of words and chapters, the next step was putting them all in order but of course she had to hear the bell ring and of course she had to look up and glance at who entered and of _course_ it had to be Jughead Jones of all the people in the world.

“Oh, hey, Veronica.” Jughead sported a smile but behind his dimples were thorns dripping with poison. He waved to her briefly, and walked up to the counter as if he didn’t come to this establishment just to shake her. Why else would he come here? She has never seen him in this place, she usually walked past him at the café on campus when going to her car. So there was no reason he would be here other than to try and mess with her. Unless she was just the unluckiest woman in all of Riverdale. He ordered softly, only taking up half a minute, before turning to Veronica with the same damn smile on his features. “Funny how we ended up at the same café, huh?”

 _That little shit._ She feigned a polite grin back, “yeah, it’s weird because I normally see you at the one on campus. How did you find this place?” In reality, an actual answer is not what she wanted, but in her mind her guess was that he noticed her Tesla and knew it could only be her considering she was one of few people in this town to own one. “This is my favorite café, i’ve been going here for a few years now.”

“Yeah, I know. I have an apartment not too far from here. I pass by you every time you come here,” Jughead chuckled. “Thought I should stop by, have a look. Maybe this might become my favorite place as well.” He didn’t even try to hide the fact that he noticed her expression fall to a well hidden snarl, the ex-Serpent swiped his tongue across his lips and nodded towards the area in the back where there were bookshelves so if you wanted to read and drink some coffee you could. “I mean, clearly it’s to my tastes if they have a refuge for an avid reader and writer like me.”

“Yes, i’m sure they created this place just for you, Jughead.” Veronica murmured with a deep sigh, swirling the peppermint stick in her hot cocoa absentmindedly. Anything to keep her eyes off of him, to allow him to see into her soul. “So, that challenge in Mrs. Morgan’s class is intriguing. I’m probably going to read a few books and use the rest of my time to hang out with my friends and such. What about you?”

Jughead tilted his head, pursing his lips slightly as he examined her for a lie. She hated the way he did that, because only he had ever been able to tell when she was lying when she didn’t want anybody to. He could tell she was, and Jughead being the annoying, smart asshole he was, had to point it out. “Please, spare me the fibbage. We both know you’re going to try and read every single book on that list to win the challenge. Do you remember how she urged us to actually have a life instead of trying to win an fun, optional challenge?”

Veronica laughed, “you’re telling me to get a life when you were the loner in high school who’d rather read and write and boast about how cool you thought you were? That’s hilarious, really.”

“Okay, i’ll give you that point, Lodge.” Jughead tipped his head in gratitude, turning to the counter as his name was called. To make everything worse, in this practically empty coffee shop, he chose to sit beside her table, leaving only an empty one between them. “But this isn’t over until one of us leaves.”

Veronica carefully sipped her hot cocoa, closing her eyes to enjoy the heat and the flavor enlightening her senses. She felt at ease, even with the frenemy beside her trying to bother her to the point where she leaves and he “wins.” But she wasn’t going to let that happen… she still had plenty of time. Six weeks of it, actually. “Does it ever truly end, Jughead?”

He pondered that sentence for a few moments. A soft expression overthrew his face, truly mulling over a sentence she mostly threw out as an exhausted sigh like neither of them could help it, rolling the statement around in his brain as if she had just asked him the deepest question known to man and he had to really search for any sort of answer. She doesn’t remember ever seeing him like that except once; when he had asked her about her father when she told him she had bought Pop’s so the Serpents would still have some place to go and feel safe at. “No… not really. We’re both too stubborn to truly lose. I don’t even think our friendly rivalry will end in our deaths; we’ll be trying to best each other in the afterlife—if it exists.”


	2. Chapter Two

Surprisingly, Jughead was the first one to leave the café. Veronica was trying to act like she wasn’t secretly keeping an eye on him even though he kept bothering her, and he received a text from somebody and soon after caved in with a loud exhale. She wasn’t sure why or where the idea came from, but to show him giving in, Jughead playfully got down on one knee as if he was about to ask her to marry him and proclaimed that she had won this round. Then, what was a thousand times more bizarre than him admitting defeat, he kissed her hand like they were in the 1800’s, packed up his things, and left without saying anything else. That left her head spinning, mixing with the sound of the bell announcing his departure.

On the drive back to her apartment, the skin where his dry lips had kissed sizzled like a crackling fire and she couldn’t believe how incredible it felt. Something about it was so… exciting and different that she wanted to feel it again but _everywhere_. She wanted her entire body to feel that way. She was buzzing with energy now and while she could have stayed at the café to work unbothered like she had originally planned, going outside into the cold, getting into her car where she could control her actions in a private matter, and try to get her energy out through singing and dancing on the short drive back was the best path to go. She quite literally deflated as she thought about how she’d probably never feel it again considering they wouldn’t even get together if they were the last two people on Earth. Well… she would be willing, but Jughead probably wouldn’t let the fate of humanity get in the way of his big ego and massive pride.

Why would she want to date that incessant asshole, anyways? Even without the end of the world situation, she’d never want to allow herself to get into a relationship that was clearly doomed from the start. Sure, he was charming and good with words, rivaled her intelligence and kept her on her toes, and could clean up great if he really wanted to, but his personality clashed way too hard with hers for them to work. But if by some luck of the universe they did work and we’re absolutely incredible together—

_Why am I thinking about us dating?_ Veronica recoiled to herself, ending the thoughts as she stepped through the door of her apartment, greeted by the faint scent of coffee her roommate Josie McCoy had made before she left hours ago for class. _Enough thinking about that… let’s focus on beating Jughead so we can smack the cocky smirk that graces his lips every day._

It was straight to work for Veronica: she lit a candle—Smoked Vanilla from Bath and Body Works, an apartment-gift from one of her best friends, Cheryl Blossom—and searched through her Spotify for a soothing, focus-oriented playlist with no lyrics to stream to the speakers her and Josie use all the time.

She landed on some soft guitar music and sat criss cross on her bed. The note she had started before Jughead had come in to annoy her automatically opened up, and she looked over how far she had gone, even if it wasn’t that much, and sucked in her lips. She’s close; all she really has to do now is put them in order from least amount of words to the most, and then plan on acquiring them.

The first two books, she actually had in the small bookshelf her and Josie shared. Josie had the third book, though, so Veronica made a mental note to herself to ask if she could borrow it. The rest, well, when it came to them she’d have to go to the library to check them out.

* * *

For the next few hours she read through the first book, taking everything in, writing down little notes just in case the tiny details were in the quizzes. She figured they weren’t considering this entire challenge was just for fun, but when did Veronica Lodge ever do the bare minimum? She had one more chapter to go when the lock to the front door turned and in walked Josie, talking on the phone with the brightest smile on her face. Few people could do that to her, though Veronica insinuated that her boyfriend, Noah, was on the phone. She still has not met the man, but heard stories about him. He seemed genuinely sweet, and him and Josie had been going strong for months now. One day Veronica would meet him, she just wasn’t sure when.

“I just got back… yeah, she’s here. Yeah, i’ll ask her. Bye, baby.” Josie sent a kiss to the phone, and giggled to herself. “I love that man.”

“One day I will meet him. Whether I have to follow you to see him or you invite me, it _will_ happen.” Veronica pursed her lips, obviously not truly meaning it. She respected them and their relationship, and as much as she wanted to see what the fuss was all about—all she’s ever seen of him were his abs and they looked delicious—she’d never pry herself into their relationship all to see what this Noah guy looked like. Now if he hurt her, all of that goes out the window and she will hunt him down. But until then...

“How about tonight?” Josie wiggled her eyebrows. “He’s inviting a friend, and wants me to invite someone and I know you’re dying to meet him. We’re finally ready to be public about our relationship, so it’s a big step for us but if you say no that’s totally—”

What Josie was asking ran a little late through her brain, but she shot up from her spot with excitement. “I get to meet him? Of course i’m going to come!” Veronica hastily saved her page—one last chapter to go before the end of the book—and ran over to the kitchen where Josie was placing her things down. “When? Where? How should I dress?”

Josie laughed at her roommate’s antics. Veronica had always been the best kind of friend, there to hype you up or sooth you when things went south at any hour of any day. She admired that about the Lodge, but had never told her directly. “About an hour and a half, and then we’re going ice skating. Dress classily yet comfortably, which I know you can rock. You’re Veronica Lodge.”

“That I am, Josephine Ashleigh McCoy.” Veronica beamed proudly. “Just enough time to finish my book and the quiz, and get ready for tonight.”

“You have to read a book and do a quiz? It’s winter break! Six whole weeks off. What teacher am I going to report for being uncool?”

A small laugh bubbled up Veronica’s throat. “It’s not mandatory. It’s a challenge, really. This list of books,” she handed the list to her roommate, “is something fun to do over the break; if we rack up points we get to choose which big tests to skip. If we win…”

Josie glanced up from the paper to catch Veronica’s dark umber eyes crinkle under the wicked smirk. “Knowing you, you’re going to try and read all of these books, and probably go above and beyond, huh?”

“Of course. But if we win, we don’t have to take any tests for the rest of the semester.”

“Seriously? Girl, that’s awesome! I wish my teachers. would do something like that… i’d never leave this apartment until I finished every single book on this page.” Josie handed the list back to Veronica. “How are you going to balance everything?”

“Well, i’ll read whenever I can but i’m not going to ignore my friends and family for it. I’ll simply do my best,” Veronica shrugged, as if it were the easiest answer in the world. However both of them knew that her “best” meant going over the top to make sure she was the ultimate winner. “I have like twenty pages to read and then I have to do a quiz and , but after that I am home free. It won’t take that long to get ready—I am _not_ going to wear a dress to ice skating.”

“Okay. I’ll let my boo know.” Josie winked, turning to leave Veronica to the peace of her space once again. “If you need me before then, i’ll be in the living room browsing for presents.”

* * *

Like Veronica had stated, it didn’t take all that long for her to finish reading the book, take the quiz and essay, and get dressed. Nobody really knew this, but before the socialite moved to Riverdale, she was in ice skating lessons for essentially her entire life. As smooth as silk on the ice, she could definitely go pro if she really wanted to. Knowing that they’d be going to dinner first and then ice skating, the best clothing to go with was something fashionable yet warm and comfortable. Casual, really. Ever since she had come to college and been too tired to care about getting dressed, the socialite has learned to love the hasty outfits when she accidentally sleeps through her alarms and has to get to her class twenty minutes away in five minutes.

Veronica shimmied on some black fleece-lined leggings, a long burgundy cuffed sweater, soft velvet socks, and for the classy aspect of the outfit, a pair of two inch black ankle boots. Before she left her bedroom, she randomly decided to snatch a plum scarf from her closet and wrap it around her neck. Veronica called out to Josie, “how much time until we leave?”

“Give me a minute, i’m almost done doing my hair!” Josie called.

To wait out the minute that turned into a few that turned into ten, Veronica flicked through Tinder, biting down on her lower lip as she analyzed each profile that came across her phone.

**Taylor, 24**   
**Student, lives in Riverdale**   
**Three miles away**

She was cute, and her other pictures were super fun and flirty. But her caption for her profile was a big block of text. A quote, and some of her favorite things, which almost hurt her eyes looking at. As pretty as she was, she swiped left, and pursed her lips at the next person.

**Jake, 22**   
**Student, lives in Riverdale**   
**Eight miles away**

He was handsome but seemed too… full of himself. She didn’t like that whatsoever and swiped.

**Denay, 21**   
**Student, lives in Greendale**   
**Five miles away**

Despite only seeing pictures and checking out her caption, she gave off a vibe that Veronica couldn’t shake. Denay looked like one of those girls who acted like your best friend in front of your face but then talked shit about you behind your back, so just as quickly as Jake, she swiped left and came upon the next person.

**Crystal, 20**   
**Nursing student, lives in Greendale**   
**Thirty miles away**

Immediately, she skipped. When she lived in New York before coming to Riverdale and then moving back, there was a “friend” named Crystal who was a backstabbing bitch and just her name coming up on Veronica’s Tinder almost made her leave the app. But something inside of her decided to do one more.

Veronica let out an audible gasp. She couldn’t believe who she had come across—it was crazier than Crystal, honestly. Though, just slightly less revolting.

**Jughead Jones, 19**   
**Student, lives in Riverdale**   
**Two miles away**

She came across… Jughead? Jughead… Jones? Forsythe Pendleton “Jughead” Jones the Third? How? They were basically complete opposites! Not to mention, enemies. However, she had to admit, his profile looked really good. Professional, like if she didn’t know him and didn’t judge him by his weird name, she’d swipe right.

The few photos he had were clean and honestly really cute. The first one was him posing in a field which reminded her of a senior photo. The second was him taking a picture of something on his camera in the desert, which was artistic and interesting and quite attractive. The third was him with his shirt off, reading a book. Veronica tried to pretend that he wasn’t reading Truman Capote, an author she herself held dear to her heart. Instead, her mind gazed over his abs, each and every one making her legs tense and her lips dry. She wanted to kiss—

“Why did you gasp? Is everything okay?” Josie scared Veronica out of her stupor, causing yet another gasp to escape past her lips except this time it was out of fear rather than shock. “Also, sorry it took so long. I had a hair that wouldn’t stay where I wanted it to.”

“It’s… fine.” Veronica swallowed thickly, shaking herself out of it and handing her phone to Josie. “I just got Jughead as a possible match on Tinder. I’m surprised how good his profile is, but he’s literally my enemy in English class and we were more like friends by association because of Betty and Archie. It would be weird if I swiped right on him, wouldn’t it? I mean, what if he sees me and swiped left—”

“Too late, I swiped right on him.” Josie grinned, handing the phone back so Veronica could see the “It’s a match! You and Jughead have liked each other” screen with both of their profile pictures, and the option to message them or continue swiping.

“Why?” Veronica shrieked. “He’s never going to let me live this down! He’ll use this every opportunity he’s got.”

“Girl, you’re forgetting that in order for you two to match, he had to swipe right on you first.” Josie waved it off, as if Veronica’s heart wasn’t jumping out of her chest harder and faster than when she was scared out of her thoughts just a minute ago. “This isn’t high school anymore, Veronica. You’re not enemies, you’re not friends by association, you’re just two people who go to the same college and happen to have the same class. If you think about it, you two are actually quite similar.”

“How?”

“Try looking at him in another light other than ‘boy I went to high school with’ and instead just pretend he’s just some guy you happen to know. It’s not that hard to see how you two are alike,” Josie snickered. “C’mon, we need to get going if we’re going to stay on schedule. You got everything?”

Veronica’s head was spinning like a dog chasing its tail. But considering she had been ready with everything she needed while waiting for Josie, she already had everything, and nodded in confirmation. “Great. I also grabbed your ice skates from your closet already, just in case you were wondering.”

“Thanks… so are you sure you can’t just tell me straight up why Jughead and I are similar? He’s an arrogant, egotistical asshole and I’m obviously not.”

“No. I’m one of your best friends and I care about you, therefore I have to let you go through this by yourself to truly learn and understand.”

“This is my villain origin story. I hope you know that.”

“Fine by me. You and Jughead can rule Riverdale as the North Side Queen and South Side King and be supervillains together. How cute!”

“I can’t with you.”


	3. Chapter Three

Veronica parked her car beside Josie’s; normally she would have just driven with her since they were roommates and would be going back to the same place, but she wasn’t sure how this night was going to go and if she had to leave separately from Josie, it’d be better if she didn’t have to order an Uber to get back home. The two best friends met up in front of the car and entwined their arms together, both girls excited for what was to come. Josie was finally going public with her boyfriend, and Veronica was going to be the first to meet him after hearing about him since the start of their relationship.

Josie’s boyfriend, Noah, and his friend, were already there at the restaurant so they didn’t have to wait, thankfully.

A waitress brought them over to the table and Veronica immediately felt her heart drop. There, sitting in the corner in front of Sweet Pea, was Jughead, sipping on a glass of water innocently as if he was trying to pretend he had no idea she was coming along. His eyes, however, lifting with humor, gave him away.

“I knew he was bringing a friend, but I didn’t know it was Jughead.” Josie whispered into the Veronica’s ear. Despite her teasing earlier, she felt bad about the situation—-she didn’t want to force anything and definitely didn’t want Veronica to look back on his memory negatively all because of Jughead. This was supposed to be about Her and Sweet Pea, them coming out as a couple. “If you want to leave, none of us will—”

Veronica blinked out of her upset shock. “Leave? Please, when am I known to give up, especially over someone as insignificant as him? I’m not going to let Jughead win.”

“Win? Jesus, V… this isn’t—”

Sweet Pea cleared his throat, ending the ladies’ whisperings. “I’m glad you two could make it.” He stood up and let Josie into the inside of the booth. “I was beginning to think you got cold feet, or something. Changed your mind.”

“No, my hair just wasn’t cooperating. Sorry, baby.” Josie cooed, smooching his cheek with a cute little smile. “We’re here now, though. And we brought our appetite.”

“Why hello, Veronica.” Jughead sniggered. “Crazy to see you here.”

“You knew I was coming, didn’t you?” Veronica rolled her eyes, sliding into her spot in front of Sweet Pea. “It’s almost like you _wanted_ to see me.”

“I always want to see your beautiful face, princess.”

She ignored his usual playful banter and focused on the couple in front of them, who were waiting for a reaction to the news of them dating. Honestly, Veronica didn’t mind that Josie was dating Sweet Pea. Well, Noah—but she knew him as Sweet Pea in high school. “So all this time you kept the fact that you’re dating _Noah_ away from me even though I know him already?”

Noah chuckled, “if you want, you can call me Sweet Pea. I don’t mind. I go by both, currently.” He shrugged, as if Jughead nor Veronica believed him and he was trying to convince them he truly didn’t care. “I’m slowly distancing myself away from the Serpents, but now that i’ve found my birth dad and suddenly have a brother, I decided I should start going by Noah. Just to see how it feels. And to, you know, keep anonymous since only a few select people know about Josie and I.”

“I feel like i’ve been invited into this big government secret and I am so here for it.” Veronica joked lightly, easing the mood a little bit. By the couple’s expressions, they were incredibly grateful that it wasn’t going to be made a big deal. “Though we did go to high school together and I have a preconceived idea about you, I have heard so much about ‘Noah’ and how in love my roommate is with him. So unless you hurt her somehow, you’re okay in my book.”

Jughead snickered lowly under his breath, “as if he needs permission from you, Veronica.”

“Jughead,” Noah hissed, “now’s not the time to get into a pissing match. Especially with someone who will most _definitely_ win.”

“Oh, it’s fine, “Sweet—Noah.” Veronica corrected herself, her voice sickly sweet as she turned back to Jughead, ready to clap back at him with full force. “It’s funny that you bring up Noah in high school because last I checked you let the Serpent leadership that you only got because of nepotism and not actual qualification get into your head and fill you with arrogance, and you treated both Sweet Pea and Fangs like your little lap dogs. Surprised he still puts up with your annoying ass.”

“This is better than any reality TV.” Josie commented at the entertainment, sipping at the water that was already there when the girls arrived. “This time on Riverdale Unhashed...”

“He could literally overpower me at any moment. Do you see how jacked he is?” Jughead gestured to Noah, who pursed his lips at the compliment, unsure if he should show appreciation or not. “If I was treating him like a lapdog, he could have pounded me into the ground.”

“No, because you were the leader and could do anything you wanted, like kick him out. You kicked Fangs out for something you did yourself right after, you kicked Toni and Cheryl out for an egg that I ended up destroying,” Veronica despised that memory. She asked him for the egg back, not to destroy Toni’s legacy and right to lead the Serpents. “If Sweet Pea had told you to fuck off, you’d have told him to give in his jacket.”

“She’s got a point, Jones.” Noah sang before chugging his drink so didn’t have to look at Jughead or talk about him siding with her.

Josie murmured in a rushed tone, “shh, our waiter is coming so pack it up, you two!”

“Hi, i’m glad the rest of the party showed up! What drinks can I get for you, and are you ready to order or should I wait for a few more minutes?” The waitress questioned, eyes donned on Josie considering her and Veronica were new to the table.

“Just water, thank you.”

The waitress turned to Veronica expectantly, who titled her head as she prepared her answer. “Do you have pink lemonade?”

“We do! I’ll write that down… any appetizers, or are you ready for your food?”

“We haven’t really had time to look at the menus. But I was thinking about calamari for our appetizer?” Noah glanced around at the table for confirmation.

Nobody showed any opposition, so the waitress took it down. “I’ll be back with your appetizer, and if you’re ready before then just flag me down.”

The table grew silent as the waitress left. No one was sure who was going to speak first, or what about.

Of all people, it just had to be Jughead. “I didn’t treat you like a lap dog, did I?”

Noah scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, I heard their calamari is incredible! I can’t wait to have some.” He smiled weakly, aware he was avoiding the question. How could you tell a friend they treated you badly without ruining the friendship? When Jughead continued to stare at him in disappointment, he caved and sighed. “Kinda, yeah. You always had us doing your shit for you, and it wasn’t fair because you got to go and be with your girlfriend while we’re forced to help you. Fangs was petrified that you’d turn on him again and kick him out.”

Jughead’s features softened. “I’m sorry… I didn’t realize.” Veronica blinked a few times as the boy turned towards her and gave her a thankful smile. “And thank you for bringing it to my attention, Veronica. Every day I'm remembering the awful shit I've done since I dated Betty and I hate who I used to be. I loved her, but she brought out the worst in me.”

“Yeah, remember when you slut shamed me for having sex with my boyfriend?”

Jughead sucked in his lips awkwardly, wishing she hadn’t brought it up. “Okay, yeah… but to be fair your dad had just bought the White Wyrm and I thought you took us to the Lodge Lodge so I wouldn’t be there to try and stop him.”

“That doesn’t make it okay in any way… but that reminds us of the kiss we shared. We should have realized that Betty and Archie weren’t confronting their feelings for one another and that they’d hurt us once again. It would have made prom and graduation much less depressing.”

Jughead opened his mouth to reply, but Josie beat him to it. “Woah, woah, woah, what do you mean you two kissed?”

“I kept telling him Betty wasn’t good for him, but he didn’t want to listen to me,” Noah murmured, shaking his head. “And now i’m finding out you and Veronica kissed? Why the hell aren’t you two closer, then?”

“Uh, because we’re enemies.” Veronica stated slowly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. But to anyone other than her, it wasn’t.

Jughead pursed his lips, “even though we know i’m always the one to come out on top.”

“In your dreams, Jughead!”

“You’re right, but definitely in reality, too.”

“Josie can back me up, I always win. If I lose, well, that’s just a part of my plan to win.”

Josie held her hands up, trying not to laugh. “Don’t bring me into this. I’m just here for the entertainment. So, should I bring up the fact that you two swiped right on one another on Tinder?”

“No!” Veronica bit back her tongue, quieting herself down considering they were in a restaurant. “I should have just said no to this damned thing and moved on to the next book.”

She felt like this dinner was going to last forever… never mind how in the world ice skating with the other three was going to go. Veronica playfully dreaded the idea of it, but what kept her going was that she could show up Jughead at the rink and win at their unspoken game of “who is better” since there was no way he could skate better than her. She’d rather die than have Jughead Jones beat her at that. Reading, she could see it, even if she didn’t like it. But, skating? She wouldn’t let that happen, not with her years of practice.

* * *

Considering Veronica had brought her own car just in case, she really wished she hadn’t when Jughead decided to ride with her to the rink. Which didn’t even make any sense because he rode with Noah, and had no reason to hop into her car other than to be a nuisance. But, was she surprised? Not really, which she found really sad. Jughead made it his job to pry his way into her life just to compete with her and be annoying, and at this point she’d probably be more weirded out if he didn’t do it.

“I’ve never been in a Tesla. I’m too poor to even dream of owning one,” Jughead stated, admiring the inside of the expensive car. “Let me guess, daddy bought it for you?”

“As a graduation present,” she murmured, knowing he was going to make her feel bad about it. “He wanted me to be safe.”

“No car is truly safe, you do realize that, right?” Jughead chuckled, shaking his head. “He just wanted to find a way to spend his money, and figured the best way to flaunt it was to buy one of the best rated cars for his little princess.”

“Why did you decide to ride with me, then, if all you’re going to do is talk shit?” Veronica snarled defensively, teeth gritting as she glanced over at the boy, who almost seemed shocked that she had exploded on him. “All you ever do is attack me. Ever since we met, ever since I stepped foot in Riverdale. Why?”

“Honestly?”

“Yeah, honestly. Tell me straight up: why don’t you like me?”

“I don’t not like you,” he corrected lowly, “but I honestly don’t know why I constantly butt heads with you. I just love this competitive nature we have with one another. It keeps me on my toes. No one other than you can really rival me in any way.”

Veronica blinked, unsure what to say. That was essentially what she had concluded about their so called relationship. The fact that they thought the same idea startled her, so much so that she grew quiet and didn’t say a word up until the two came upon Josie and Noah who stood by the entrance with duffle bags. “Shit, I totally spaced on grabbing my duffle. I’ll go grab it, you guys go on without me.”

Jughead sputtered, “no way! it’s dark outside and you’re an attractive woman. I’ll grab it for you.”

“When did I ask for you to be my bodyguard?” Veronica retorted. “We’re not friends, Jughead. We hate each other.”

“Considering the conversation we just had in your car, it’s hilarious you still believe that.”

Josie awkwardly began to tug Noah towards the entrance. “Well, we’re going to go save a spot for all of us… you two can come in when you’re done bickering like a married couple.”

Before either of them could fully comprehend what Josie had said, or make any remark to it, Jughead and Veronica were too late and had to face the fact that they were alone together, again, and she had no choice than to let him tag along. She was too annoyed with him to speak. It was bad enough she had to deal with him in class, but hanging out due to mutual friends? It almost seemed like she was being punished for something… maybe it had to do with her being too tired to give a weak smile to this cute little kid saying hi to her on the street a week ago.

“So, what, you’re just going to ignore me? Because I wanted to keep you safe?”

Veronica spun around quickly and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Her face was so red and hot with anger that she was sure he could see the cartoonish steam pouring out of her ears. “It’s not your job to keep me safe, whether you like or hate me. You mock my father for buying me a car for its safety features and then go on about how you want to keep me safe? You’re such a fucking…”

“A what? What am I?” Jughead egged, raising his eyebrows patiently.

She exhaled deeply, trying to stay as calm as possible because she knew that she wouldn’t be taken seriously if she were screaming bloody murder. “You’re a hypocritical, egotistical, selfish, paranoid, bullheaded, secretive, self absorbed jagoff who just doesn’t fucking know when to quit!”

Her body was on fire, though not in the way she’d prefer. The simmering aggravation kept her warm in this chill and the only way she knew how to get rid of all that energy was to move around, get it out of her system. She popped her trunk and hastily snatched her duffle bag.

“Yeah. You’re right,” he agreed with a shrug, as if he couldn’t control his negative traits—like he couldn’t work on making them not as on the nose and it was simply how he’d be forever. “But we’re human, we all have aspects of ourselves that we want to change. You’re not perfect, either.”

“Definitely not, but at least I try to change the negative aspects of my personality. You’re much too prideful to even realize that those traits aren’t permanent, and you could be improving if you really wanted to.” Veronica slammed her trunk down and side-eyed him with an exasperated huff. “Clearly, though, you have way too much fun being a pain in my ass.”

“Well, can you blame me? It’s a beautiful ass.”

Veronica stopped short at that comment. With most guys, she’d be disgusted and punch them in the face, but coming from Jughead was odd yet she didn’t quite hate it like she should have. “Why do you keep complimenting me like that? It’s so off-brand for you.”

“I’m normally not so forward, but you set it up perfectly. How could I not?” Jughead seemed proud of himself, and she vowed to rip that smirk right off his face. “Seriously, though, Veronica… you act like I don’t have eyes. You’re probably one of the most gorgeous women i’ve ever met.”

The two continued walking towards the ice rink slowly to continue this conversation privately before meeting back up with their friends. “Really?”

“Don’t act like you’re not aware that everybody either wants to be you, or wants to be with you.” Jughead laughed gently. “C’mon, the universe has placed us together in the same area time after time after time… tell me you haven’t thought about us being more than just ‘rivals.'”

The whiplash Veronica was getting from being angry and yelling to soft and deep and now flirtatious and blushing had her head spinning. How could one boy have such an effect on her? But she could never let him see what he did to her. “Oh, you mean full-blown enemies? Yeah, all the time.”

He had understood that she was partly joking, and chuckled once more. “C’mon, Lodge, let’s go beat each other in the ice rink.”

“You’re so fucking on, Jones.”

In the next split second, all you could see was the blur of those two college students making a run for the entrance of the ice rink. Veronica hastily paid for both of their wristbands, and their race continued. Next challenge: see who can find their friends the fastest.

Without warning, Jughead split off from Veronica and playfully shoved her farther back in the process, giving her just enough time to see that he had spotted them first and now he was winning. She chased after him, just managing to catch up in the nick of time and touch the table Noah and Josie had claimed just before Jughead could state his apparent win. He didn’t expect her to be able to run fast enough to outdo him, but his loss was taken with odd humility.

“Ha! I win.”

“Oh, please, ice princess… I _let_ you win.” Jughead played it off, attempting and failing to contain the smile bursting at the seams.

Josie glanced over at her boyfriend and shook her head. “We leave them fighting and they come back all laughing and messing around. These two are the weirdest and most confusing kind of people, I swear.”

“Yeah… but are we surprised?”

“Hey!” Jughead gaped in mock hurt. “That hurts. That really hurts.”

Veronica rolled her eyes. “Since you don’t own any ice skates, you’re going to have to go rent some. Need some money?”

“I have never wanted handouts, and I certainly don’t want yours, Veronica,” Jughead murmured, flipping her off as he wandered towards the kiosk that held skates to rent among other accessories.

Veronica simply sniggered to herself as she began to slip on her own skates. The pair she’s had for years, that had been through so much with her. There were a few skid marks from when she fell a few times on the edges, and a small doodle that her and her girlfriend did when they were together. She once thought about covering it up, but decided to keep it because the drawing of a teddy bear was just too adorable to get rid of. Besides, she didn’t look back on that relationship in discontent, they ended without any malice. Why would she want to pretend they never happened?

Soon the three were on the ice. Veronica didn’t want to intrude with her friends, so she stayed back a bit and decided to get back into the hang of ice skating considering she hadn’t been on the ice for months. It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, more like life got in the way. Wasn’t that usually the reasoning?

She had skated around a few times before she passed by the entrance to the rink just in time for Jughead to skate in. And, of course, he joined in beside Veronica. His footwork was a little wobbly and she wasn’t sure how much practice he’s had, if any, but he was better than she thought. He did almost biff it right then and there, but otherwise he seemed like a natural.

“I can see your brown, judgy eyes on my form,” he mentioned, gliding past her with a wiggle of his eyes. “I actually used to skate all the time. While we young South Siders didn’t really have the money to go to the ice rink, there was this small lake that’d freeze over and we all would practice on it for hours on end. I’m like… a total pro.”

“If you ask the South Side,” Veronica noted, smiling. “However, if you ask the ISU Grand Prix you’ll find them begging for me to go pro.”

“Is that so, princess?”

“I’ve skated since I was, like, three.”

He seemed taken aback, like ice skating was miles under this preconceived idea of Veronica that he had formulated in his mind. “I would have taken you more for gymnastics, or something.”

“To be fair, I used to do both but then daddy overheard these teenagers talking about me in a crude manner and while he did get them kicked from the group, he didn’t want me going back,” Veronica chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Though, I wasn’t that butthurt about it. I’ve always liked ice skating just a bit better. The class of it all is perfect for my desire to be pretty and striking awe in the parents of my enemies.”

“You like to call everyone your enemy, don’t you?” Jughead prodded, crossing his arms in observation as he skated backwards along the circle he and Veronica, and everybody else, was following. “Is that because you’re always trying to prove that you’re the best at everything, and if someone isn’t your enemy, they may distract you and therefore win, or something?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Veronica smirked and sent him a rivalrous air kiss before she sped off ahead of him. It had been a few minutes and her muscle memory had started to come back, and all she wanted to do was show it off.

Passing Josie and Noah, she sent one to them as well, speeding ahead so she’d have enough room to perform one of her favorite combinations: Veronica jumped into the air, spinning twice, almost three times, and landed gracefully with her landing leg jutting out to regain her balance as she glided off as if she was regularly skating. It was something so simple, something she used to love to do all the time. Doing it again filled her with the joy and excitement of figure skating that she hadn’t truly felt in what seemed like forever, though was more like a little over a year.

Suddenly, no one else was around her. She glided and flipped and jumped and spun and all of her worries just—ironically—seemed to melt away into the ice, left behind in the shavings her skates made with each extensive move.

Veronica had started to do dance steps that she had learned from a dear old friend a few years ago, however her eyes cast over to the rink’s exit to notice Josie and Noah getting off of the ice. She went around once more before exiting behind them to see what was going on, if they were done and to decide if she was going to depart with them. A few moments later, Jughead had joined the group as well.

“Everything okay?” Jughead spoke, worry etched into his eyebrows as they dipped into a frown. “Or are we all just feeling like shit with Veronica upstaging us constantly?”

Veronica glared at him for a few moments before turning her attention back to Josie and Noah, who gave apologetic expressions. “Ignore him, he’s just sad that he thought his experience on the frozen pond in the South Side would allow him to finally win something in our little rivalry but now he knows i’ve had years of practice.”

“Work called. A group of puppies and their mother were found almost frozen to death on the side of the road, and considering I work at that veterinary clinic, they asked me to come in and help,” Noah explained shortly. “Sorry for cutting this night short, but we can make it up some other time. You were absolutely beautiful on the ice, Veronica. It was really cool to watch you spin and not fall on your ass.”

“I guess since you were Jughead’s ride here, i’ll be taking him home, huh?” Veronica smiled thinly towards the boy, who awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. “Which is totally fine, I just wanted to, you know, make sure.”

“Sorry, Veronica. I’ll make it up to you!” Noah, despite his rush to get out of the ice rink, took the time to send her a warm smile.

Jughead and Veronica turned to one another once their friends were out of sight. Jughead pondered, “should we stay for a little while, or…?”

“Let’s wait until they leave the parking lot so they don’t know we left right after them. That’d be weird, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah. Not sure why, but I know what you mean.”

“Good, glad we’re on the same page.” Veronica chuckled. “While we wait, should we grab a pizza or something to warm us up?”

“I was going to joke about how we could warm each other up but then I realized that would only lead to a fight and I actually do kinda want pizza even though we ate, like, an hour and a half ago.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you could reign in your annoyance. I thought it just spewed out of your mouth uncontrollably!” Veronica teased, sitting down next to her duffle bag. “Can you call in the pizza while I get my shoes on, please?” Jughead was silent for a few moments, prompting Veronica to look up at him in wonder. “Jughead?”

“I know we have a complicated relationship and all, but would you mind if I stayed at your place for a little and we just… watched a movie or something?” the boy meekly suggested, dark eyes looking anywhere other than at hers. “You don’t have to say yes—”

“As long as you buy the snacks and drinks, we can have a movie marathon and you can spend the night.” Veronica agreed, “although, you’d have to sleep on the couch and never set foot into my bedroom, got it?”

“Yep. Got it. Don’t anger the host.”


	4. Chapter Four

***THIS CHAPTER IS KINDA DIRTY. DO NOT READ IF YOU’RE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH IT***

**It has been edited to be not as smutty but it does hint at it so again read at your own risk!**

* * *

“If you don’t give me my cherry coke I will have to physically grab it from you and you will not like my methods!” Veronica threatened, although any angry glare she could muster towards Jughead just ended with him bursting into laughter. “I’m serious, I know i’m tiny but I _will_ bite you.”

Jughead exclaimed through laughs, “you just look… so cute… while trying to be… mad at me!” He was laughing so hard there were tears streaming down his cheeks and his face was burning red.

She had tried reaching for her drink, but he was almost two feet taller than her and therefore all he had to do was stretch his arms up above his head. Then, she tried to climb on his body like a monkey but surprisingly he was actually pretty strong and his grip didn’t falter like she had hoped. Then, she tried tickling him. But, to no avail, he didn’t seem to be ticklish. At least, anywhere she had tried, anyways.

So now her idea was biting and kicking, but it was just a bottle of coca cola. She didn’t want to physically hurt him. Now, unless this situation was very different where her life was in danger, she would most definitely have resorted to that. But, instead, she smirked mischievously as her mind cooked up a non-violent way to get him to give in to her.

“Fine, don’t give it back. I’ll keep myself satisfied with some ice water.” Veronica hummed as she waltzed into the kitchen, flat out ignoring his curious stare as she scooped out some ice from the freezer, plopped a few into her glass, and filled it with water. And Jughead still watched her, waiting for her next move. If he knew anything about Veronica Lodge, it was that she never gave up… so why had she seemingly “given up,” so to speak?

Veronica started the movie, _John Tucker Must Die_ , and grabbed two pieces of pizza from the table, nibbling on one while setting the other on her plate. She did her damnedest not to laugh at how Jughead was attempting to focus on the movie while at the same time keeping his guard up in case she tried to reach for her drink. His eyes moved back and forth every minute or so—besides, he’s already seen the movie once before. He wouldn’t be missing much.

After about ten minutes, Veronica had finished her water and all you could hear were the ice cubes tingling in the glass. Her gaze flittered over to Jughead to check if he was still watching her and sure enough, he was. When their eyes met, he squinted, unsure what she was thinking.

Her finger twirled the ice in the glass, keeping his attention on her and only her. His gaze quizzical, he watched intently as she snatched an ice cube and began to suck on the top of it. Jughead’s eyes widened, not prepared for what she was trying to do. Veronica slowly rubbed it all over her lips as if she were applying lipstick, though not bothering how messy it got around her mouth. The brightness of the TV gleamed off the water dripping down her chin, which she wiped away with a finger and sucked on that as well.

Jughead hadn’t realized it, but he licked his lips and shifted his body towards her. Veronica could hear him gulp harshly, his defense lowering as he watched her, eyes almost pleading for her to continue. Next. she pretended to accidentally drop it into the middle of her shirt, right between her breasts. She made a show of pulling on her shirt to find it, shivering as the cold, melting cube fell deeper. That was not her intention at all, but now she couldn’t find it.

Lifting her shirt over her head, the ice cube fell into her lap and she hoped he wasn’t lost now—all this to get her drink back, and she fucks it up. But when her gaze falls onto the boy on the other side of the couch, his eyes flicker up to meet her. She smiled wickedly, realizing exactly where he was looking. “I could keep going if you like, but i’m not going to do anything more until I get my drink back, Jones.”

“Uh… I…” Jughead panicked, sputtering as he fought with himself on relenting and letting her have her drink, or to keep it and prove to her that she couldn’t break him. Though, he propped the drink on the table, next to the pizza box, and quickly sat back, clearly trying to ignore the fact that he was turned on by Veronica.

Now that she had won back her drink, she could have stopped there. She could have taken her win and continued to watch the movie… but she didn’t want to. Veronica threw one leg over his lap and sat down on top of him, face dropping innocently with a perfectly puffed bottom lip. “If I had known you were this attracted to me, I’d have gotten my drink back the first time I asked.”

Jughead’s breathing hitched, this side of Veronica was something he had never seen before and he liked it a lot. He loved it. He wanted more of it. He usually would have responded with a witty comment, but nothing came out. It was like she was a succubus, sucking out all of his air to feed her lust. Honestly, though, if that were the case, if all he had to do was let her get her way, he’d let her.

Veronica leaned forward and whispered, “cat got your tongue?” and then teasingly licked the crease of his lips. His fingers flexed on her thighs, pressing into her flesh as he tried to keep himself grounded. However, he was quickly losing his footing and falling into her lust. “You know, as annoying and stubborn as you are, you’ve always been really attractive. You’ve just never really tried to put in any real effort into the way you look.”

“Y-Yeah?” He stammered, attempting to control his breathing that began to quicken as she observed him.

Her arms wound around his neck and pulled him so close to her that their facial features touched. She bit down on his bottom lip gently, pulling back a little bit. “Getting out of high school really served you well.”

She let his lip go and he licked them, looking deeply into her eyes, hoping that this would go where he had desperately wanted it to. Like he had always secretly dreamed of.

It was just now that she could truly admire his eyes. They were a deep green with hints of blue, like seafoam. Flecks of charcoal magnified the color, and she has never been so entranced by somebody’s eyes before. “Just for the record, what happens between us doesn’t make us a couple or anything. You hear me?”

Jughead chuckled weakly, and spoke as a nod to her overuse of calling them enemies or rivals. “Enemies with benefits?”

“Something like that.”

He had taken notice of her waiting for his signal, waiting for consent. In high school, they were in a sex education class and on one of the first few days they talked about consent. Some guys in class stated their wrong opinions and before the teacher could educate them in a kind, gentle manner, Veronica stood up and began to argue with them about the concept and why it was important. It was very admirable, especially because they had taken it to heart. He was actually glad to see it happen in real life, in a real situation, and prove everybody who ever said that asking for consent would ruin the mood wrong. “Help me with my belt?”

Veronica obliged, the clinking of his belt coming undone and being tossed to the side fairing as a beginning to a ride that was bound to be wild. Jughead lifted his shirt up and over his head, joining her in being topless. She got off of his lap and prompted him over with a finger as she back stepped towards her bedroom; he happily followed suit and closed the door behind him, flipping on the light switch so they both could see where they were going. Veronica had jumped onto her bed and sat down by the edge, arms twisted behind her back for the clasps of her black bra.

“Need any help?” he offered, though he knew she didn’t considering the second he had asked she was flinging it across the room. He pulled down his pants and peeled off his socks, and before he could work on his boxers, Veronica’s cold, slim fingers wrapped around the waistband and pulled him closer to her. His knees hit the edge of the bed, and they buckled a little bit, causing his body to lean over hers.

Her lips collided with his and she tugged his boxers down until they fell onto the floor, prompting him to climb onto the bed after her. The feeling of their skin touching sent little electric bolts zipping through their nerves; goosebumps rose along their arms and legs, and needy whimpers falling from their lips breathlessly.

“If we’re enemies with benefits, should I—”

“Skip the romance crap and and grab a condom from my bedside table,” Veronica interjected, knowing he was about to ask whether they were the kind to show a little romance first or just get straight to the sex part. As much as Veronica loved the foreplay and teasing, right now she much preferred getting straight to the point before her rational thinking took hold and put an end to this. She shouldn’t be doing this with him, with Jughead of all people, but, God, she wanted him so bad right now.

Jughead rolled the condom on, and not a moment later Veronica grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down onto the bed, connecting her lips with his as she straddled his thighs. He wasn’t used to being the one on the bottom, being told what to do, but he relaxed and reveled in the warmth and contact of their skin.

* * *

**(I had more planned but I wasn’t comfortable releasing it and I wasn’t sure how to connect the beginning to the end, so um… yeah it was only like three short paragraphs so no one is missing much)**

Veronica slowed to a stop, panting just as hard as Jughead was. Jughead sighed, “I hope Josie isn’t going to come back.”

She smirked weakly. “Josie texted me when we got back that she was going to stay with Noah, so she’s not coming back until tomorrow afternoon.”

“Good.”

“You’re such a cocky bastard.”

“You love it,” he teased, “so much so, that I know you’ll listen to me.”

“Oh? I will?” She tilted her head challengingly. “I don’t remember ever listening to you because you don’t think ahead.”

“Okay… well...”

“This is my apartment, so we go by _my_ rules.” Veronica stated promptly, and changed the subject, “but, if I had known being with you was going to be this good, and that you’d actually care about my desires unlike a lot of other guys, i’d have snatched you up in high school.”

“Would you, though?” Jughead snickered, “even then you were all about us being sworn enemies.”

“You started it.” Veronica mumbled. “C’mon, let’s go grab some pizza and continue watching the movie.”

“Sounds great, but, uh, where did my boxers go?”


	5. Chapter Five

“Wake up, sleepyhead.” Veronica groaned at the sound of Jughead’s sleepy yet oddly cheery voice, and despised his grip on her arm shaking her from side to side. “I made breakfast.”

“Nooooooo!” She turned around and stuffed her face into her pillow. “You don’t know this yet but I will tell you now: I am not a morning person, despite how I made it seem in high school. And shaking me is not the right way to wake me up.”

“How else would you have liked me to wake you up?” Jughead laughed gently, holding up a cup of coffee to entice her to get up.

“You had some last night, and another midnight snack. Why not have more for breakfast?” Veronica sighed, pushing herself up to turn around and face Jughead considering her body felt awake now. Not because of the smell of coffee, but because of the memories of last night ingrained in her brain. Last night was hot, hotter than she would have ever thought, and if it happened again this morning she wouldn’t be mad. But thinking about Josie, she’d never want her to walk in on that especially because what happened last night was not something she’d want to share. It wasn’t that Josie would be disgusted or anything of the sort, Veronica knew she’d be supportive. But with Veronica constantly waving Jughead off as her enemy to Josie, doing a 180 and sleeping with him… she’d rather avoid the “I told you so” attitude all together and pretend she’d rather die than see Jughead with his shirt off.

Jughead shoved the mug towards her and shook his head. “I could, but i’d have to get the go-ahead first.”

“I’ll let you know right now, I would never mind being woken up like that.” Veronica wiggled her eyebrows and sat up fully, blowing at the coffee before sipping it gingerly. “Hell, we could make a little game out of it. You do what you do best and I try to keep steady as I read aloud; do the challenge at the same time to stay ahead. What do you think?”

“I’m down, but right now let’s just go eat because I am starving for actual food.” Jughead prompted, walking out of Veronica’s bedroom.

She huffed to herself and checked her phone. It was eight-thirty in the morning and according to the few texts that were sent last night when she was asleep, Josie wouldn’t be back until twelve, so they had plenty of time to get dressed and pretend like they didn’t do anything with each other.

“So, you made this yourself?” Veronica sucked in her lips to keep from laughing. On the top of the trashcan was a bag from the school’s cafeteria, a place she’d snagged a quick bite to eat before class multiple times.

“Yeah.”

“That’s awesome, I didn’t know you worked at the cafeteria.” Veronica wiggled her eyebrows at him as he looked over at her, shocked. “Dude, next time you want to impress a girl by making her think you cooked all the food, don’t throw the bag away and leave it in plain sight. You should’ve buried it.”

“Dammit.” Jughead slouched, “I was hoping you’d think I was this secretly perfect dude who you could have fun with and cook breakfast the next morning and treat you like a queen or something. My dream is shattered.”

Veronica nabbed a piece of bacon on a plate she assumed was for her because unlike the other one, it wasn’t touched, and playfully patted the man’s head. “Aw, i’m sorry, Jug. Don’t worry, I still think you’re not as bad as I wanted myself to think you were. Now if you can also give foot rubs and back massages, I will indefinitely be yours.”

He sat down in front of the plate that was slightly eaten and admitted, “I hate feet and have never given anyone a back massage, but I can try. Who knows, maybe i’ll be amazing at it.”

“Well, are you good with your hands?”

“If anything we did at one in the morning is allowed as an example, then clearly I’m a fucking God with my hands.”

Her face soured. “Don’t sound so cocky, you’ll turn ugly in two seconds flat, Jones.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so he cleared his throat and dug into his hash browns. There were bags under her eyes but her features were soft and sweet, illuminated by the harsh sunlight coming from the blinds. He always admired her stature, her sense of style, her intelligence, but never took the time to really soak in her features.

The gentle pink tint of her lips, the way her hair draped in a perfect frame of her face, and now he couldn’t stop himself from staring into her eyes. Brown eyes are one of his absolute favorites. They were soulful and deep, always filled with mystery and wisdom. They resembled the warmth of the sun, the rich dark soils fertile with life, and irresistible like a bear drawn to honey. It was probably the writer in him, the observant nature in him that allowed him to see what many others wouldn’t without poets, but he was grateful for the ability. She had no idea he was looking at her, realizing for what was probably the millionth time that she was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. The only difference was that this wasn’t high school or a moment frozen in time where the sun halo’d it’s most precious angel. This was intimate, a moment where time had frozen and the sun cast a glorious ray on a human being who tried her best to be worthy and it wasn’t until last night when he couldn’t get to sleep and she was snoring softly beside him that his brain wandered over their life together and it just… clicked.

It clicked on why she was the way she was. Why she was so competitive and had to be the best of the best. Because he was an arrogant, selfish, spiteful little shit in high school he never took the time to understand why he and Veronica really had it out for one another, but it was because of her father. He hated the man but Veronica, despite what he had done, was so desperate for his love and approval that she felt being at the very top like he was would give her what she wanted. Jughead wished she knew that she would never be at the top where her father was, because he cheated and lied and probably killed his way there. But she didn’t. She won fair and square and he wished she could realize that. He wished she would go easy on herself. He wished he could help her, but all she saw him as was an enemy. He wished he could be more.

“What exactly are we, Veronica?” Jughead pondered, looking to her softly as he internally debated on reaching across the table to run his thumb along the soft skin of her hand. But that’s something a boyfriend could do. He wasn’t that, and maybe never would be. “I understand enemies with benefits, but… could it ever be more than that?”

Veronica gently placed the bagel he’d bought her down on her plate, wiping the crumbs out of the corner of her mouth politely. She thought about it for a few moments, very, very deeply. If this were last night she’d definitely state that this was nothing other than boredom and a need for a fun time and someone to keep warm with during winter break but over the course of the night she’d been unable to sleep. Not only because she could tell Jughead wasn’t able to, either, and was watching her pretend, but she genuinely didn’t think she’d enjoy his company. Normally he was arrogant and annoying and selfish among other negative traits, but how he acted while it was just the two of them was so different and much better to be around. Her perspective on him had changed so much in such little time it was giving her whiplash, however she had to admit she wanted to be around him all the time, especially if he acted the way he was now. But there was a nagging thought in the back of her brain making her question why he just randomly stopped acting like a little shithead in the span of a few hours.

“I’m not sure, really. We could just see where it goes for the entire break. But I can’t really forget the fact that we liked each other on Tinder. Clearly, there’s a reason we were matched, right? There has to be a reason we’re always put in each other’s life.”

“If we still want to be whatever it is that we are by the end of break, we can have another talk and see where we want this to go. I like that. No labels until we’re absolutely sure.” Jughead nodded in affirmation. “Enemies with benefits… god that sounds awesome.”

“I’d agree but I need at least another cup of coffee before I act like myself so don’t judge me until then.”

* * *

When Josie enters the apartment at twelve in the afternoon, she is absolutely taken aback at the fact that Jughead was in their apartment, and there was no screaming match or discernable rivalry. Him and Veronica were simply on the couch together, reading peacefully as if they were best buds. And, honestly, despite Josie despising how Veronica called him her enemy, this picture before her was somehow more unsettling, like it didn’t seem right. But at the same time, it did.

“Uh… hi.”

“Hey.” The pair didn’t even glance up, too wrapped up in their book to give her a moment of their time.

Veronica, however, placed her bookmark and closed it all the way before turning to greet her roommate. “Sorry, had a few lines to read before I finished my chapter. How did everything go last night?”

“Great, actually. Noah helped the puppies and we may get to keep one if all goes well.” Josie placed down her purse and her jacket, eyeing Jughead. He had no idea she was having a silent conversation with Veronica about him; Josie was gawking over him being here in their apartment alone with her, and while Veronica wasn’t entirely sure what she was exactly saying, she relayed to Josie that nothing happened and they just watched a movie and had some snacks. Even though that was a straight up lie.

“Just because i’m right here doesn’t mean i can’t hear or see your lips moving.” Jughead laughed, mirroring Veronica as he bookmarked and closed his book before looking up to glance at the two girls humorously. “Yes, I am here, no, we did not fight, yes, I did stay the night, no, nothing happened, all we did was eat pizza and snacks and watch a movie.”

Josie joked lowly, “if I knew it was going to take Noah and I leaving you two alone to bond, we would have done that ages ago.”

“Please, he’s still my enemy.” Veronica rolled her eyes, “we may be reading together but i’m two chapters ahead of him and therefore I am currently winning our challenge.”

Jughead commented, “for now.”

Veronica shot a glare at him for that, but she quickly stuffed it and instead met up with Josie in the kitchen. “There’s extra pizza in the fridge, and I saved you a box of those sour airhead strip things that you love. They’re in your bedroom.”

Josie cooed, “aww, really? That’s so sweet of you, V!” she wound her arms around Veronica’s neck in a friendly hug. She noted the fact that Veronica smelt like Jughead, but decided to keep that to herself.

“You smell so good. I don’t know what cologne Noah uses, but it’s fantastic.” Veronica groaned, pulling away from the hug. “Smelling like your boyfriend is always the best, isn’t it?”

“Definitely.” Josie nodded in agreement. “Oh! I almost forgot, the girls invited us to brunch. Plus Kevin.”

“Would it be too much for me to ask Noah to stop Jughead from reading and therefore getting ahead of me while i’m out with our friends?” Veronica bit down on her lip, mostly joking but awaiting the second her friend playfully hit her for being an idiot.

“What’s he gonna do, place me in a chokehold for hours until you get back and can continue reading?” Jughead scoffed, “nice try, Lodge, but i’m going to surpass you. You’re just going to have to catch up later.”

“We have about an hour and a half before we need to be there, so don’t worry, you have some down time to read before we leave.” Josie explained, “now, shoo, Jughead, your presence is misaligning my chakras.”

Jughead waved her off with a smile. “Noah didn’t happen to drop you off and stay, did he?”

“Oh, shit! Call and let him know!”

Veronica bit down on her lower lip. “Uh, well, I call dibs on first shower, so i’ll see you some other time, Jug. I hope you’re able to catch him before he’s too far away.”

“Thanks.” Jughead waved her goodbye as she disappeared into her bedroom. “Oh, and don’t forget, you’re probably going to have a lot of catching up to do when you get back from your brunch, Lodge. Good luck!”

Veronica humphed, even though he couldn’t hear or see it. She was so going to bring her book to read whenever she could—-anything to help her stay ahead in any way. God, what this challenge was doing to her. What he was doing to her…

* * *

“How’s the engagement?” Veronica cocked an eyebrow towards Cheryl Blossom and Toni Topaz. The two had been together since high school, going strong despite life throwing curveball after curveball at them. First, it was Cheryl’s crazy family almost driving them apart in high school, then it was meeting Toni’s equally as homophobic family who Cheryl tried to physically fight during prom and graduation. Then, it was their massively different schedules with Cheryl doing classes for fashion and Toni’s social work; thankfully, they pulled through it. More recently the two have been talking about getting married, and then maybe starting a family. But they weren’t quite there yet.

“It’s… going.” Toni smiled, although it barely reached her eyes. “So much time and money and effort, I never knew getting married was going to be this hard.”

Cheryl pouted, kissing her fianceé tenderly on the cheek. “It’s okay, ma chérie. We’ll get through it. Whether it takes months, a year, or even multiple years, we will pass life’s hurdle and we will become Mrs. and Mrs. Topaz-Blossom.”

“I know, babe.” This time the smile was larger, and much more genuine. With a sigh, the girls turned towards the rest of the table, which consisted of Josie McCoy, Veronica Lodge, and Kevin Keller. “So, what about you guys? How’s life treating you?”

“A little birdie told me Miss Josephine McCoy has some juicy news.” Kevin wiggled his eyebrows at his step sister and sipped on his orange juice. “Tell them before I can’t hold it anymore and spill the tea myself.”

“Veronica found out last night, so you two are the last to know. I’m sorry,” Josie reached her hand over the table to comfort the couple even though they weren’t actually upset. “You remember Sweet Pea… right?”

“My best friend? Of course I do.” Toni narrowed her gaze suspiciously. “Why…”

“Well, we’re dating. And have been for a few months or so.” Josie stated slowly, as if preparing for bad reactions. But a wide, happy grin broke out on the girl’s faces. “So… yeah… last night we brought two friends out to dinner and ice skating, which just so happened to be Veronica and Jughead. Lord, the fire between them is hotter than hell itself.”

“Ooh!” The table gasped, turning to Veronica with open mouths begging for a little taste. Anything she could give them, they would eat up. Kevin was the first to speak: “took long enough for someone else to see it. It’s been there since Veronica came to Riverdale, they just refuse to let their fire burn.

Veronica sent Josie a sigh, “look what you’ve done.”

Josie, however, didn’t care one bit. “Hey, it’s not my fault you can’t get past this rivalry thing you two got going on instead of using that passion and fire to try out a relationship. You might not listen to me, but maybe you’ll listen to them.”

Veronica debated on telling them about last night, what happened between them. They would go nuts, and she knew they all would be supportive. But, what if things didn’t work out? What if they weren’t meant to last as anything other than enemies with benefits? What if their relationship isn’t what the others wanted them to be? But if Josie and Noah can come out and say it, she should be able to, as well. “Well, it’s a bit too late for that. I’m surprised you didn’t notice Jughead’s bedhead.”

“Wait—-” Kevin gaped, Cheryl gasped, and Toni smirked at the revelation. Josie’s facial features fell neutral as she took the sentence in for a few long moments. “When Jughead spent the night at our apartment…”

“He spent it in my bed. Then, we switched back to watching the movie, but did it a few more times throughout the night before actively trying to go to sleep.” Veronica nodded. “But we’re still enemies. I mean, he may be surprisingly well in bed, but that doesn’t mean i’m going to let him win this reading challenge.”

“Oh… my… God…” Kevin was almost bouncing in his seat, he was so excited. “It took you guys long enough! We need many, many more details.”

Cheryl shot a disgusted look, “do we really?”

Toni gagged, agreeing. “Jughead is a friend, i’m happy for our girl here but I do not need to hear about what he did with her in bed.”

Kevin crossed his arms and huffed playfully, like a child. “Text or call me the details later, then?”

Veronica laughed, “sure… now what the hell are we gonna order? I’m hungry.”


	6. Chapter Six

About two weeks had passed since. Josie and Noah went out every other day meanwhile Jughead and Veronica would stay at their apartments reading and having multiple breaks throughout for food, doing the dirty, and whatever else they decided to stop reading for. It was genuinely fun; Veronica felt truly at ease with him which was totally different when you compared that to her previous relationships. It was laid back and casual and she wasn’t expected to be the hot eye candy hooked on his arm for points or status. All they did was read, share a laugh or two, hit each other with random, deep topics that would spur them into a debate on whether or not they would get on a rocketship and inhabit another planet or stay on earth.

Eight books in total is how many the two had crossed off the list. They were halfway into the ninth one when Veronica placed her book down and sucked on her bottom lip, unsure if she should ask him about a “date” tonight.

He caught her staring at him, and threw a pillow at her face. “Earth to Veronica? We took a break ten minutes ago, why are you watching me like you haven’t eaten in years and i’m tonight’s dinner?”

“Sorry. I was just wondering…” she paused for a moment or two, figuring that she had to continue now that she had started. “Do you want to take a reading break tonight and just look up at the stars?”

“Like a date?”

“No. I mean, yes, but it’s more so us just hanging out and appreciating the beauty of the galaxy. We’re always just reading or making out and it’d be a nice little retreat away from that,” Veronica bashfully crossed her arms, feeling vulnerable. Normally, in relationships, she was the last to talk about these kinds of things. It was always clean cut and there was nothing really spontaneous but with Jughead it wasn’t and that made her nervous. “You can totally say no, though. I was just wondering.”

“I mean it is cold as hell outside but watching the stars together sounds very romantic. You sure you can handle that, Lodge? I’m not your boyfriend,” he teased gently, ignoring the glare that scrunched her features as he wound his arms around her waist and pulled her into his body. He placed a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I’d love to, Ron.”

“Do you want to run to the store for snacks and such while—” The apartment door unlocking stopped her sentence cold. Josie and Sweet Pea walked in, laughing, until they noticed the two on the couch.

“Crap, did we interrupt something?” Noah covered his eyes. Veronica wasn’t sure if he was being genuine or joking, but it didn’t matter. They were just on the couch reading, no indication of them being undressed or anything along that line.

Jughead murmured, “not unless you count Veronica here asking me on a date. Did you hear? I’m the coolest guy in town now.”

Veronica playfully slapped his shoulder, “shut up, idiot.”

“A date, huh?” Josie cooed, “where are you going?”

“I know it’s freezing outside but I had a random desire to star gaze, so… yeah. Cold night, cuddling, snacks, and the ever-expanding universe. Sounds like a great time.” Veronica stood up from the couch and stretched. “If you want to join us, you can.”

“The last time I went star gazing with Noah, he and Fangs farted in my face because I fell asleep.”

Noah burst into laughter at the memory, sucking in deep breaths as he tried to breathe correctly. But it was so contagious that everyone in the room started to chuckle along, which progressed into full fledged laughter after about thirty seconds.

Two whole minutes passed, four weirdos laughing their butts off over a memory from a year or so ago just crying and red in the face—-it was a sight to see.

“All three of you were just star gazing by yourselves?” Josie questioned as the group began to calm down. “That’s so sweet.”

“Fangs begged us, and it was sweet until Sweet Pea had to prove he wasn’t as sweet as his name implies,” Jughead huffed, “one day I will get revenge but i’m not sure when, or how.”

“I’m a changed man.” Noah placed his hands over his heart, playfully, but Jughead was not going along with it. “C’mon, we were just dumb kids. We technically still are.”

“I’ll collaborate with Reggie, that’s a good idea.” Jughead ignored the man and turned to Veronica. “You dated him, can you get me an in?”

Veronica snickered to herself, “we’re not in high school anymore, Jug. Popularity doesn’t mean jack all. If you really, genuinely want to fuck with Noah by going to his brother, then you can be a big boy and go talk to him yourself.”

“Yeah, if he doesn’t drop kick me first.”

“God, Jughead.” Veronica rolled her eyes at the boy, “just like you’ve changed, so has Reggie. He was an ass to all of us at some point or another, but you know what? He’s been through a lot of shit and he’s finally able to be himself. So you can joke about how he’s still the jock bro in high school who’d call you names and treat you like dirt but at least take the risk and get to know him as who he is now.”

Jughead was taken aback. She argued so passionately, so… personally. It was then that it clicked: in a way, Reggie was much like Veronica. Their fathers were toxic and bad for them, and now that they were in college and out from under their thumbs, they could open up and be whoever it is they want to without anybody else’s say so. “You’re right, i’m just being a stubborn piece of shit who can’t let go of the past. Maybe one day i’ll stop by and give him a visit. Hell, maybe we can talk about you.”

“Or you can disappear from existence and not talk about me at all to an ex boyfriend.“

“Where’s the fun in that?”

To change the topic back to “date night” Josie stepped forward and smiled wide. “I’m down for star gazing. What about you, babe?”

“We can use my truck. Not a lot of room, but there should be enough,” Noah agreed.

“Good. So you boys go get the snacks, Veronica and I will set everything up.” Josie shooed the boys away with a smile. Once they were out of the apartment, she turned to Veronica deviously. “Let’s bring out the good blankets.”

* * *

“Babe, I know this blanket is big enough for the two of us. Share the blanket or freeze to death,” Josie yanked the blanket her and Noah were sharing closer to her, teeth shivering throughout her baseless threat. She cuddled closely up against him, though, desperate for his warmth.

Veronica furrowed her eyebrows at Jughead, who didn’t seem all that phased by the cold in general. “How are you not even the slightest bit cold? Are you a chionophile or something?”

Jughead laughed gently, although the reason why he wasn’t as affected by the cold as the others was a much sadder explanation. “Living in the old drive-in, I had to get used to the cold because I wasn’t supposed to be there after my shift ended and the heaters didn’t kick on until morning. Eventually, my body became accustomed to it like some sort of self preservation.”

“Oh…” Veronica sucked in her lips, feeling bad that he had to go through that. While they each had their fair share of bad parenting and toxicity, Jughead had to run away from home because it was so bad. Veronica had done it a few times as well, but she always had somewhere to stay or enough money for a hotel. Jughead wasn’t as lucky. She wasn’t sure how to respond, but knew that he’d hate for her to apologize to him over something she had no control over. She knew, because he was a lot like she was. “Well, i’m glad you’re strong enough to withstand the cold even a little bit because I am not. In this aspect, you win.”

“Hold on, did you just… let me win at something?”

“Don’t ruin it.”

‘If I knew I could use my trauma, I would have won so many rivalries!” Jughead exclaimed, “see, look, that shooting star is celebrating with me.”

“Honey, you shouldn’t be proud that a rock burning up in our atmosphere is ‘celebrating with you.’ Did you even take science?” Josie sniggered, helping out her girl. “Now, if aliens came down and celebrated with you, you’d never lose again.’

“I’d have to agree. But we all know the aliens would adore me.” Veronica flaunted, flipping her dark, straightened hair over her shoulder. “Maybe they’ll take me away to their planet and I can get away from all the war and disease and inequality.”

“Take me with you, girl!”

Sweet Pea cleared his throat, “don’t forget me. I’m also forcing Fangs and Kevin to come along.”

“And you better take me, unless you think they know how to please you in all the ways you deserve and more,” Jughead cocked an eyebrow teasingly. “No, but, really, i’d be so mad if you didn’t take me away from Earth. This place is beautiful but the people in it… they make me want to lose all hope in humanity.”

“Don’t ever talk about how you can please Veronica again.” Noah gagged, to which he met Jughead’s middle finger. “I don’t go around boasting about how I know what i’m doing in bed.”

“To be completely fair, he does know…” Veronica sipped innocently at her thermos full of hot cocoa, ignoring the looks the other couple sent her way. “But I do understand where you both are coming from.”

“Guys, can’t you just let me enjoy the fact that I have the attention of someone who was considered to be the most beautiful woman in all of Riverdale High? Just for a little bit until it gets old?” Jughead whined, “I was a loner who only dated the blonde peppy girl because I didn’t think I'd ever have a chance with the raven haired socialitate from New York City. Let me boast, I deserve it.”

Noah pondered, “you know what, you’re right. You have been in the wrong relationship for years and now you somehow found your way to one another. You deserve to try it out and see if it’ll work.”

“At least this isn’t high school where everybody thinks you’re dating a dude to change him, or something along that dumb line,” Josie rolled her eyes. “When Noah and I had that summer fling, not only did I hear a whole group of girls suddenly acting like they’ve liked him since forever, but they really had the audacity to talk shit about how I only dated Noah because I wanted him to be my protective bodyguard who screws me whenever I please.”

“Seriously?” Jughead scoffed, “that’s so fucked up.”

“Girls are vicious.” Veronica agreed. “When I dated Reggie, a lot of the football-obsessed girls called me names all because I was dating him, but when we broke up, acted like they never said anything. I’m so over the lying and backstabbing.”

After that, their conversations died down a little bit. Jughead, Veronica, Josie, and Noah simply enjoyed the other’s presence, the chilling cold forcing them to cuddle for warmth. The sky was a dark abyss splattered with white, color-pulsing stars far away and it was breathtakingly beautiful.

Though, Jughead couldn’t help but stare at Veronica. He wasn’t lying, he truly felt like the coolest guy in the entire world because the Veronica Lodge was actually into him. If you would have told him in high school that he was going to have a thing with Veronica, he’d tell you that it was a hilarious nightmare that would never happen. But, he was glad it did. All because of a book challenge, all because of a frightening “should I?” Tinder swipe. All because something in the very universe they were looking up at decided they should have a chance.

“Hey, Jughead?” Veronica whispered gently, nudging her head between his neck to cover up her frozen pink nose. “Just to let you know, tomorrow I have a thing, so we can’t have our normal routine.”

He smiled tenderly, finding it so cute how comfortable she sounded by simply being with him. It was never like that in any of his past relationships—-while it wasn’t that many, it still meant a lot to him. “That’s fine. I’ll just read by myself. You may have made it boring as all hell to do anything by my lonesome, but i’ll manage for however long your ‘thing’ is.”

She giggled lowly, kissing his cheek. “I’ll make it up to you. Promise.”


	7. Chapter Seven

The next day, Josie and Veronica sat silently at the kitchen table. Mostly it was because they had just woken up and the coffee was still brewing, but another part of it was reflecting on their upcoming day. Veronica knew she had to go to the library and read to a bunch of little kids. She had signed up for it before winter break, though she didn’t mind whatsoever. She loved reading, and if she could instill that trait into cute, impressional children, she’d hope reading became their passion as it was hers.

“Can you put a bagel in the toaster for me, please?” Veronica mumbled to her roommate, rubbing her eyes tiredly. “You’re already up and in the kitchen.”

“I may be standing, but my body wants me to fall dead asleep right here.” Josie yawned, slugging towards the bread box anyways and taking out two bagels. “I’ll do this, you get the cream cheese.”

As much as she’d rather starve than move an inch, Veronica begrudgingly slid off of the stool and managed to make it to the refrigerator. Thankfully, the small tubs they bought were in the butter compartment up top so she didn’t have to climb inside to grab anything. Of course, she didn’t actually climb in, but because of her height—which Jughead loved to tease her about—it feels like she does. “We need to make a note to buy more. Yours is getting a little low.”

“That’s fine, I have to go shopping today or tomorrow. Tonight, though, I have a gig so I won’t be home,” Josie popped the four halves of the bagels into the slots of the toaster and pushed down on the levers, then turned to face Veronica. “So whenever you can, get me a list of whatever we need.”

Veronica snatched the one she’d already created from the fridge and slapped it down on the counter proudly. “I already have one made. Don’t stress about it, though. I’ll buy groceries after I get done at the library. If you have anything personal you want, let me know.”

“Honestly? I’m just craving sushi at the moment.” Josie chuckled. “But it’s not that important right now. I just have cream cheese, peanut butter, and, ooh, cookies to bake. It’s for my job, sadly.”

Veronica nodded as she wrote them down on the list. “Got it. I’ll buy an extra one so when we have another girl’s-only night we can go ham on them without sharing with anybody else.”

“And this is why we’re roommates.”

The raven haired beauty laughed, “hey, when my bagel is done can you put my cream cheese on it? I should probably go get dressed while i’m actually in the mood to do it.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Thanks, babe!”

* * *

There was nothing better than the smell of books and coffee in a library. Veronica was obsessed with it; the aroma lulling you into a relaxed state, where you can just sit in one spot mulling over words that trap you in a universe unlike yours and you feel blissful for what seems like a minute. A minute that really is much, much longer though you do not realize because you’re sucked into the book you’re reading. It was addicting. Veronica has done some hardcore chemicals, but nothing could ever beat books and coffee (and cuddling).

“Oh my gosh, children! Look, it’s Miss Veronica.” A librarian Veronica had gotten to know, Judy, throughout her time here in Riverdale gestured to her as she approached the middle of the library, and the kids came running in excitement. There were tiny little arms wrapping around her legs and different pitches of “hi!” or “good morning!” or even a “what are you going to read today?”

Veronica chuckled lightly, moving a little bit so the kids would get the hint to let her through. She sat down in the dandelion painted rocking chair and quickly the children filled in a circle around her. Judy handed her The Polar Express with a wide smile plastered on her lips. The kids were being handed hot chocolate and some candy. Veronica waited until they were all settled to begin reading.

“The Polar Express, written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg.” She started off, flipping past the dedication page and stopping at the first illustration of the main character. “On Christmas Eve, many years ago, I lay quietly in my bed. I did not rustle the sheets. I breathed slowly and silently. I was listening for a sound—a sound a friend had told me I’d never hear—the ringing bells of Santa’s sleigh.”

The kids were watching her intently, taken by her low narrator-like voice. She remembered being a child and begging her mom to take her to the library so she could sit and listen to whoever was reading, whatever they were reading. She loved the way people could mix up their voice to give life to characters in a book. It was absolutely fascinating, and she hoped she was doing a great job.

“‘There is no Santa,’ my friend had insisted, but I knew he was wrong. Late that night I did hear sounds, though not of ringing bells. From outside came the sounds of hissing steam and squeaking metal. I looked through my window and saw a train standing perfectly still in front of my house.”

Jughead Jones waltzing into the library was completely by accident. He figured since Veronica was busy, he’d buy a few more books on the list to be prepared. He acquired one before hearing her voice, and it took him a few moments to realize he wasn’t imagining Veronica reading. He followed the sound to the middle of the library, where she sat in a flaking yellow rocking chair reading The Polar Express to a bunch of tiny gremlins. Though, they were quiet and completely into it so currently they were more like… mellow gremlins.

Don’t get him wrong, he liked kids. He just remembered being the one to take care of his younger sister when his parents wouldn’t and it made him angry because he shouldn’t have had to, especially being a child himself. But the way Veronica spoke so softly, yet with enthusiasm as the story’s vibe gave off, he leaned against a bookshelf and listened in, imagining he was in the future with Veronica and she’s reading to their children.

Sure, they were still just “enemies with benefits” and it was kinda weird he was thinking about a future with Veronica, but he’s actually liked her since high school. He was just really, really, _really_ good at pretending he wasn’t. Still, he could listen to her read all day. It was so soothing, he could fall asleep.

But then as she was flipping to the next page, her earthy eyes met his and he immediately dipped, pacing as far away as he could to the other side of the library. He was well aware that she would not be able to get up and go after him until she was done with her session, so he didn’t really stress on it as he began to search for the next few books he would be needing for the reading challenge.

Jughead’s mind still plagued him on the thought of him being with Veronica in the future, married, with children. Knowing them, they’d go to the library practically every day like it was their primary home; their offspring would choose a book or two and Jughead and Veronica would take a whole hour to choose between the ten books they wanted to read. But none of them cared, they loved the library and they loved the crooked sense of time. God, what a life… a stable family—a _loving_ family. Something he nor Veronica really had and being able to create it themselves. It sounded wonderful.

Before this whole “enemies with benefits” thing started, he liked Veronica. Of course he did, she was beautiful and intelligent and so much more, and yes he did like to push her buttons, but how else would he stay relevant in her life? Other than classes, she would have no reason to remember that he existed. But now, after being in this weird limbo of “we’re sort of a thing but not officially anything” he noticed he was falling for her more and more each day.

His feelings for her had progressed from a simple crush to a full blown “I think I may love you even though it has only been like two, almost three weeks since we really started to hang out on a daily basis” and the swiftness of it left his head dizzy. He was afraid of it, though, because what if Veronica liked him back, just not enough to make it permanent? What if after winter break they went back to being “enemies” who competed for the top spot in class, although it wasn’t that for him. He just liked being kept on his toes, urged to get better, be better, by Veronica. But if he had to go back to that and pretend none of this happened… he didn’t want to think about that. It made him way too sad.

“Jug?” All of his worries and stresses washed away at her calming voice. He turned to greet Veronica, who gently tapped at his shoulder softly. “What are you doing here?”

He smiled as if he weren’t just having an internal crisis. “What else would I be doing in a library, Ron? I have to get the next few books for the challenge. I promise, i’m not stalking you.”

“Well, I have to go grocery shopping, but i’ll leave you with this.” Veronica trapped him against the bookcase and kissed him hard, biting on his lower lip as if she wanted more, but knew that nothing would actually happen considering where they were.

Jughead pulled away and laughed nervously, “if any of those kids happens to come across us, i’ll disappear from the planet.”

“Most of them left with their parents,” Veronica rolled her eyes, arms draping over his neck. He didn’t even realize he had started it, but the two rocked back and forth to nothing but the sounds of their breathing. “Josie has a gig tonight, so my apartment is going to be empty the entire night.”

“I promised Archie i’d help him take family photos, but after that i’m free.”

Veronica stepped back, unsure how to feel about that. If the roles were reversed, she probably wouldn’t do it. Not after how him and Betty hurt them in high school. She thought maybe Jughead was better than her, or maybe just too nice for his own good—still too wrapped up over Betty to hurt her feelings back. “Family photos?”

“Yeah…” Jughead forgot she didn’t know yet. “Betty and Archie are adopting. One of his gym kids was disowned and the parents gave legal custody to him. As a christmas present, he asked me to make Jared a bit more comfortable and take family photos.”

Veronica nodded, feeling a bit bad for automatically assuming anything. Before she cut ties with them, Betty wouldn’t want to have a child so young. But this made way more sense, and it was actually very kind of them. Definitely something they would do. “Well, give them my best, please.”

Clearing his throat of the awkward tension in the air between them, he kissed her cheek and mumbled, “I'll see you tonight” before heading off. A faint goodbye fell from her lips, and the two split paths, Jughead searching for books and Veronica towards the library’s exit.

* * *

Veronica pondered calling up Betty and Archie to congratulate them herself, but she couldn’t pretend that they had never hurt her. Archie cheated on her with Betty, and it didn’t make it okay just because it was on the girl he always wanted to be with since before she had come to Riverdale. Maybe she would… just not today. She was busy. Getting groceries.

Placing some tortillas into her basket, Veronica wandered around the store. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Jughead, leaning against the bookshelves and looking at her like she was his entire world. It made her happy that someone in the world felt that way about her. Each and every day she grounded her choice on where they would stand at the end of winter break. She liked Jughead. A lot more than she anticipated. Hell, it had only been a few weeks of them properly bonding but they felt so… right. She could see them being a permanent thing, a couple.

And it didn’t help that after reading to all of those little kids and thinking about the way he looked at her and their possible relationship, her mind was going farther and wondering what life would be like if they decided to get married and have a kid. Their child would probably end up loving books just as much as them, if not more. They’d go grocery shopping together—-she could see her child slipping some candy into the cart and Veronica trying to say no but Jughead helps them out.

She could see moments of laughter and smiles, sad and angry, yet each is conquered together and calmly, unlike her and Jughead’s toxic households. They’d be loving and understanding, open and insightful. Everything they had wished theirs were, and more.

Next, she placed a bag of flour and sugar into her cart, imagining the little food fights her possible future family could have. How Jughead would boop her nose, dusting her in flour. Then, their child would place their flour-covered hands all over her and Jughead’s pants. Veronica would get back at both of them by licking all of the cookie batter while they were changing and washing their hands. But she’d save a little bit, just to ease their pouts.

Veronica forced the hopes away and focused on groceries instead, pushing her cart to the cold aisle to grab eggs, milk, cookies, and sour cream. If she focused on pipe dreams any longer she’d become lost in them and knowing her, the fact that she never got it, she’d never come back out. But maybe that was precisely why she wanted it so bad. The one person who understood, the one person who would be going through the same thing she was, could help keep her grounded.

Whatever the reasoning was, all she knew was that she was falling hard and fast for Jughead Jones and she wasn’t prepared, so flailing as she tried to find a way to land softly was her best bet. But how could she land softly when there was nothing to catch her fall?


	8. Chapter Eight

“Can you believe it’s been five weeks since this challenge started?” Veronica murmured, setting her book down and twisting her head to look over at Jughead, who did the same and shifted his body so the angle wasn’t as awkward. The two were at a Jughead’s place laying in their underwear. “Five weeks since you became an actual part of my life.”

Jughead smiled gently, lovingly giving her calf a squeeze. “Yeah. It feels like it’s been forever. But now we have one week left, one last book to read, and then we make our decision and see who truly wins.”

“I knew we were going to have to talk about that eventually…” Veronica bit down on her lip anxiously, pushing herself up so she could crawl over to sit beside him. “I already know where I stand on our relationship, but only one of us can win the challenge.”

“You know. Where you stand?” Jughead swallowed harshly, his negative thoughts about her choosing to end their relationship and pretending nothing happened between them clouding his brain. He hated thinking that way, but how could he not? He didn’t deserve her. She was way out of his league. “H-How? Are you sure? Like, you have no doubts?”

“Of course I know. I know how I feel about you, about how you make me feel.” She grabbed a hold of Jughead’s hand and wiggled her fingers between his, knowing exactly what was going through his head because she wondered the same. They both wanted to believe that they would choose to stay with one another at the end of the week, but thinking realistically: why would the other want them?

Jughead meekly broke the contact between their grasps and looked over at her pleadingly. “Just rip the bandaid off now… if we’re going to end.”

Veronica cocked her head back in shock, wondering where he had gotten the idea that she was going to dump him at the end of the week. Talking about how he made her feel should have been a dead giveaway. “Jug,” she chuckled, “I really like you, and would love to give us a real shot at dating. I thought telling you that I knew how you made me feel would have given that away, but I guess not.”

“I mean… I just figured…” he trailed off, shaking his head of the explanation. “I’m really glad you feel the same way, because on our first day back next week we are going on a real date. A date couples would go on.”

“Figured what?” she pried, although had an inkling as to what was going through his head. But she wanted to hear it for herself, so she could ease his doubts and worries. Now that he had technically admitted that he wanted to give them a chance as well, her negative thoughts began to dwindle. And if she could do the same for him, it would probably help immensely with their relationship.

He opened his mouth to respond, but closed it quickly, unsure how to start. “W-Well,” he stammered, “I might not have shown it but I've always admired you. You’re headstrong and beautiful and intelligent, and your standards are incredibly high. I just never figured that you’d feel like I could fill them.”

Veronica cooed, kissing his bare shoulder. “Sure, my standards are high, and I have always found you a little annoying among other negative-based traits, but, honestly, my standards are based on whether I like you or not.”

“What?” The confusion was clear on his expression; eyebrows drawn in, lips taut, head tilted. “Standards usually mean that you’ll like someone if they meet your requirements.”

“Essentially. But if I really like you, anything that could possibly not meet my standards automatically fills up to the top of the line,” Veronica understood that it didn’t make sense to him. In her brain it did, but to anybody else’s it would sound like she was speaking an alien language. “Here, i’ll give you an example. Let’s say that your humor is a two out of ten. If I like you, the two won’t matter to me whatsoever. It becomes the standard, I guess.”

“Basically, if you like me, i’m worthy of your standards?”

“Yeah, let’s just go with that.”

The two shifted into a comfortable silence, sitting beside one another with fingers gently caressing the other’s skin mindlessly, thoughts wandering about anything and everything.

“Hey,” Veronica nudged the boy. “I’ve got one chapter left before the end of the book. What about you?”

“Two.”

“Awesome, i’m ahead.”

* * *

Jughead whined, “do you really have to eat that in front of me? It’s distracting. I get it, you’re stopping at the last chapter to tease me, but I’m going to catch up to you.”

Veronica smirked back at him as she chewed on some pizza. “Sorry babe, but I should probably be getting back to reading, anyways.”

Jughead coughed, surprised. “Babe?”

Her smirk turned into a rosy blush as she faced away from him, just in case he didn’t like it. “Well, since we know we’re going to continue this into a more serious relationship, might as well test the waters. See how it sounds.”

“Our kind of relationship has always been about calling each other by our last names, but I like the way it sounds.” Jughead pretended to focus on his fingertips, hoping she wasn’t noticing the red brightening his cheeks. “My love.”

“My love… that’s beautiful.” Veronica sat down at the end of the bed, the physical embodiment of the pleading emoji. “I can call you…” she bit down on her lip, furrowing her eyebrows as she examined him, thinking over what words she could use as tokens of endearment. “Torombolo. I called you that in high school but it seems more romantic than any pet name that already exists.”

“My love and Torombolo. Sounds absolutely perfect.” Jughead boasted with a loving smile. “I’ll check out, and i’ll facetime you later? Or see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, if I don’t walk in on Josie and Noah and flee to Norway in embarrassment.”

“If you go to Norway, you better take me with you!”

“Mmhm… maybe. I don’t know yet, but just in case you should try to solidify your spot. I take cash, food, and sex as bribes.”

“Lucky me, then, because I can provide all three and whatever else you desire, my love.”

**(sorry that’s so short I wanted to put it in but didn’t know where so um… just enjoy it :D)**


	9. Chapter Nine

“Done!” Jughead and Veronica shouted, throwing their book down onto Jughead’s bed. It was the last one on the list of fifteen books, and they had finished it at the same time. “Wait, did we just—”

The two stared at one another in awe, surprised that they had managed to finish the last book within a few days of the previous one. But, to be fair, with the end of winter break coming up they spent almost all of their time reading to get through it considering it was one of the larger books. They had turned down each and every one of their friend’s invites to hang out.

Jughead thoughtfully turned towards Veronica, “hey, what if we turn in our quizzes at the same time? Whoever’s quiz the teacher sees first wins. That way it’s fair and square, and we don’t have to, like, freak out about it.”

“I like that.” Veronica smiled gently, pulling out her laptop with Jughead falling suit. “But, honestly, it feels like it’s been years since she gave this challenge out. I love the competition between us but it doesn’t feel as…” she paused to figure out what word she wanted to use to describe how she was feeling. “Important? I don’t know, I think i’d much rather lose with you than win without you.”

“Hold on, I gotta write that quote down for a book, that was fantastic.” Jughead clicked on his notes to a page titled “STORY QUOTES” and typed it up.

“Credit me!” Veronica playfully demanded, opening up the quiz for the last book. It only took about ten minutes for her to finish it, but then she had to wait for Jughead. Thankfully, that was simply another few minutes.

“Get ready to send it in three…”

“Two…”

“One!” Veronica and Jughead shouted simultaneously, pressing send. Veronica shut her laptop and erupted into a fit of nervous giggles. “I wonder whose she’ll see first.”

Jughead did the same and huffed out a deep breath. “I feel like a boulder was just pushed off of me but now another one is rolling down the hill headed straight for me.”

“Okay, Sisyphus,” the raven haired beauty joked, mostly to ease the suspense clouding the room. “To get our minds off of that, should we go find something to do now that we’re free of the challenge?”

“I’m thinking food, since you ate the last slice of pizza.”

“And this is why we’re probably destined to be together.”

* * *

“Friends!” Veronica clapped her hands together with a slightly unsettling, welcoming grin plastered onto her face. “Sit, please.”

Cheryl, Toni, Josie, Noah, Kevin, and Fangs arranged themselves on the couch, looking to one another for an explanation as to why everyone was gathered here in Josie and Veronica’s apartment. Josie and Noah may already know, but they only knew that they had a thing, not that the two were planning on actually becoming a full fledged couple.

“So, school starts back up soon… which means Jughead and I’s enemies with benefits trial will officially be over…”

“Ron, they don’t need a prologue, just say it.” Jughead ran his hands over his face in mock exhaust. “Veronica and I have spoken about our relationship and if we will give us a try and on our first day back at school I am taking her on a date to formally ask her to be my girlfriend.”

“You tell me to say it and then tell them yourself? Literally so rude,” Veronica murmured, crossing her arms to sell her pretend-annoyance.

At the same time, the group surrounding the couch cheered with “congrats!” and “finally!” which was definitely to be expected.

“So there will be four couples…” Kevin started with a grin. He didn’t even have to finish that sentence for everyone to understand where he was going with it. “Which tells me that we have to have a quadruple date sometime!”

Noah bit on the inside of his cheek to express his reluctance. “I don’t know, sounds a bit too crowded.”

“Just once!”

Jughead and Veronica looked to one another with a knowing smile. Their friends would hash it out eventually, but they honestly didn’t mind whether they’d be dragged to a quadruple date or not, they were just glad to finally be moving forward together as an actual couple. “Maybe one day, Kev… just not anytime soon.”

* * *

Veronica and Jughead stood at the doorway to their class, nervous to step inside. They were fully aware that winning this challenge didn’t mean anything other than skipping out on tests, but it was so much more than that to them. To them, it was the beginning of a bond, a relationship. To them, it was their origin story that they would tell their kids when asked how they got together. To them, it was when everything changed.

Jughead slipped his hand into Veronica’s and smiled encouragingly. “Whoever wins can help the other study.”

“I’m not sure how or why that helped,” Veronica stated, “but good enough. You ready?”

“Yeah.”

They walked hand in hand into the classroom. A few eyes wandered over their entwined hands, expressions just barely showing the surprise and confusion. Last time they all saw Veronica and Jughead, Veronica did not like Jughead but now they came in holding hands, bodies close, her head on Jughead’s shoulder. The opposite change anybody had expected.

Jughead and Veronica sat side by side, and when the teacher walked in, their posture’s rose and fingers touched and legs bounced nervously.  
Mrs. Morgan clears her throat and smiles brightly. “Welcome back to class. Before we start on what everybody did over break, I’d like to announce that two students read every single book on the list and submitted their essays at the same time, and I’d just like to give them props. I fully expected the highest amount of books read to be about three or four, but these two went above and beyond.”

Of course, everybody could tell who it was. The two raven haired students were competitive and absolutely adored books—this challenge was practically made for them. So when Mrs. Morgan announced them as the students who read all of the books and submitted their last essay at the same time, no one was surprised.

Jughead wasn’t sure why he wanted to explain why they submitted their essays at the same time. Maybe it was because they were going to share their holiday break anyways, or maybe it was because he wanted to show off a little bit and tell everyone that him and Veronica were (about to become) exclusive. Maybe it was both.

“I know it sounds weird or dumb, but Veronica and I bonded over the entire break because of this challenge. We both love to compete, and we are both obsessed with books, so throughout the course of the break we became close. I’m very grateful that you presented this challenge to us because otherwise i’d still be sitting where I normally sit and Veronica would still hate me.” Jughead turned to look at Veronica with a small smile. “I know only one person can win, and I’m not sure which essay you saw first, but Veronica deserves to win. She had everything down pat.”

“Jughead...” Veronica whispered incredulously, “what the hell are you doing?” She shook her head, as if nulling his statement. “No, he deserves to win. He sucks at tests—trust me, he could know all of the answers but something about having options makes him second guess himself. He almost failed high school because of it.”

Mrs. Morgan laughed as the two watched her pleadingly. “I was going to give both of you the winning title, and anybody who participated a pass. But i’m glad it brought you two together.”  
The two students looked to one another in awe. “Wait… did she… did we…”

“Okay, since we already know what Jughead and Veronica were up to during break, how about Miss Jackson goes first?”

* * *

After class, Veronica and Jughead met up at the coffee shop, where everything began to unfold. Jughead sat down with their orders and Veronica laid her head on his shoulder with a melancholy smile tiredly etching onto her features. “So, looks like we worried about who’d win for nothing.”

“We’re exempt from all tests… i’m so gonna ace this class.” Jughead beamed, “although thanks for telling everyone I almost flunked in high school because of tests.”

“Sorry, I was hoping it would make her feel bad and choose you if she saw my essay first. But, again, it didn’t matter in the end.” Veronica shrugged, sitting up straight so she could sip at her drink. “So, now that we’re back in school… where are we going on a date?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“And?”

“Meaning you can’t know until it’s time.”

“That is literally so rude.”

“You’re going to have to deal with it, babe.”

Veronica huffed. “Fine… i’ll just sit here by myself and think about how far we’ve come since six weeks ago.”

“Six weeks ago, you would have actively shunned me.”

“Six weeks ago, you would have annoyed and stalked me, anyways.”

Jughead protested, “I didn’t stalk you!”

“You literally saw my car parked here and walked in. Stalker.”

“I literally hate you.”

Veronica giggled and kissed him on the lips. “I literally hate you, too, Torombolo.”


End file.
